October 5, 2012

7.8%

Well, it's all over the internet and biz stations today: Obama has rescued us from the perils of a stalled economy. Halleluiah! We now have an unemployment rate below 8% and we're right back where we started from in January 2009 when this stuttering fool ascended to his throne.

Looking at the internals, there were few true bright spots, but at least it wasn’t as bleak as the last couple of months. The U-6 number, which captures unemployment and underemployment as well as the marginally attached, stayed the same as in August at 14.7%. The civilian population participation rate rose a tenth of a point to 63.6%, exactly where it was in the 1982 midterm election, and only missing the 31-year low set last month.

The number of unemployed dropped 456,000 last month, while only 114,000 jobs got added. That either means that 342,000 people left the US, or they left the work force in one way or another. In the household survey, though, the number of people with jobs rose by 873,000 — a very strange outcome that makes it appear that more than one tweak has been done to previous data. (The +873K is in the seasonally adjusted number, by the way.)

But isn't it suspicious how a number that has been hovering above 8% (maxing out at 10%) for the last four years has all of a sudden dropped below that mythical "go/no-go" line? Well, as you might suspect, the books -- while not cooked -- appear to be a tad fricasseed. Especially after a sad sack debate performance on Wednesday night.

Of course, while most of the low-info, mirror-fogging, mouth breathers will look at the 7.8% and rejoice at their savior delivering them from the jaws of job market purgatory, a lot of folks -- those who still are out of work -- will look more deeply into these numbers and ask penetrating questions like, "what the hell?"

All that said, however, don't you just know that the regime will be crowing 7.8% from the roof tops and that will be the keynote topic in the upcoming debates, the next of which is -- hmmmmmmm -- Slow Joe Biden and Paul Ryan.